The CNN Environment Unit is preparing a half-hour show on environmental home renovation featuring EBN Advisory Board members Steve Loken and Marc Rosenbaum. EBN subscribers are invited to suggest renovation ideas, materials, or techniques (for either contractors or do-it- yourselfers) for inclusion in the show, which will air in late May or... Read more

I appreciated reading your fairly comprehensive article on environmental impacts of various heating fuel options (“Heating Fuel Choices: Weighing the Alternatives”, EBN,

Vol. 2, No. 6). You uncovered several of the complexities inherent to evaluating the costs and benefits of fuel options as determined by... Read more

The Alcyone Light Centre is offering a three-month course in green architecture in the spring of 1994, and another in sustainable building construction in the summer. Contact Architectural Internship Director, Alcyone Light Centre, 1965 Hilt Rd., Hornbrook, CA 96044; 916/475-3310.

Extruded polystyrene (XPS) is the insulation material of choice for many builders when it comes to below-grade applications and is used in many other ways as well. Commonly referred to by Dow Chemical Company’s tradename Styrofoam®, standard XPS insulation is manufactured in the U.S. by four... Read more

Washing Machine

Number one is... Read more

The

Environmental Resource Guide from the American Institute of Architects (reviewed in EBN

Vol. 1, No. 3) is now available at a lower subscription rate. The new price for one year of quarterly installments is $98 for AIA members and $165 for non-members. Call 800/365-ARCH to order.

Green Builder Program, City of Austin, Environmental & Conservation Services Dept., 206 E. 9th Street, Suite 17.102, Austin, TX 78701; 512/499-3500; 512/499-2859 (fax). Three-ring binder format, 440 pages, $25 postpaid.

The Sustainable Building Sourcebook was written to provide background information for... Read more

for Treating Wastewater

by Gerald Steiner, P. E. and James Watson, P. E.; 42 pages, free. Tennessee Valley Authority, May 1993. TVA, 1101 Market Street, Chattanooga, TN 37402. Fax orders: 615/751-7479.

Despite its cumbersome title, this publication will prove invaluable to anyone considering a constructed... Read more

Trus Joist MacMillan has broken ground for a second manufacturing facility for its Timberstrand™ laminated strand lumber product (see EBN

Vol. 1, No. 3 for product review). The new plant, scheduled to open late in 1995, is in eastern Kentucky. Locally available yellow poplar will be used instead of the aspen used at TJM’s Minnesota... Read more

The Canadian R-2000 energy-efficient homes program is revising and broadening its standards. The Technical Research Committee of the Canadian Home Builders’ Association has made its recommendations to Energy, Mines and Resources Canada (EMR), the government body that administers R-2000. The... Read more

by Joseph M. Tibbets. 1989, Southwest Solaradobe School, P.O. Box 153, Bosque, NM 87006. $20.35. Paperback, 196 pages.

The Earthbuilders’ Encyclopedia is the most comprehensive reference we’ve seen on the various construction techniques that fall under the umbrella of earthbuilding, especially adobe and... Read more

Recycling leftover paint is an idea whose time has come. Paint disposal is one of the biggest headaches facing contractors and municipalities nationwide, and improper disposal can cause extensive environmental harm. Several municipalities and counties have run paint collection and re-use programs, often mixing together... Read more

American Institute of Architects’ Committee on the Environment, 1735 New York Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20006; 800/365-ARCH, 202/626-7300.

Last winter and spring the American Institute of Architects’ Committee on the Environment organized a series of three video teleconferences entitled “Building Connections.” The... Read more

Carbon monoxide (CO) is a serious threat in many homes. Approximately 300 deaths per year from non-fire-related CO poisoning make it the leading cause of death by poisoning in the U.S. In addition to death from acute exposure, many people suffer the symptoms of low-level carbon monoxide poisoning—headaches, fatigue,... Read more

I enjoyed your article on cellulose insulation in the September/October ‘93 issue of EBN. In general, I thought the article was very well done, but felt that your recommendations on the health concerns left a bit to be desired. First of all, your recommendation not to eat it is obvious, yet by stating it, you seem to... Read more

Trimax plastic lumber, which was featured in the EBN article “Recycled Plastic Lumber,” (Vol. 2, No. 4) will soon be manufactured in two additional locations. Trimax’s parent company, Polymerix, Inc., has licensed Environmental Recovery Systems of Somerset Inc. to make the fiberglass-reinforced lumber in Massachusetts. In a separate deal, John... Read more

The National Institute of Standards and Technology and the U.S. Green Building Council have jointly announced a Green Building Conference for February 1994 in Gaithersburg, Maryland. The conference will cover assessment methodologies and performance criteria for rating buildings, case studies, activities of various government and independent... Read more

Green Seal, a nonprofit environmental labeling organization, certifies products that cause significantly less harm to the environment... Read more

by National Park Service. September 1993. 118 pages. Limited copies available from the Denver Service Center, National Park Service, P.O. Box 25287, Denver, CO 80225; 303/969-2100. (No charge while initial printing lasts; then copies will be available from the Government Printing Office.)

The Cycle II™ line from the Major Paint Company (the manufacturing arm of Standard Brands Paint Co.) contains at least 12% recycled paint collected from consumers and 38% in-house waste from washing machinery. The remaining 50% is virgin material. Cycle II is available in flat, semi-gloss, and primer formulations in about a dozen colors ranging... Read more